Cyrano
by PortiaInAStorm
Summary: In which Marley reads classic literature while wrestling with her feelings for Ryder and Jake. Takes place immediately after "I Do."
1. Spoiler Alert

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any profit from the use of, these characters.

A/N: Hello all, and welcome to my first _Glee_ story. I don't exactly know what the venn diagram of 'people who watch _Glee_' and 'people who've read _Cyrano de Bergerac_' looks like, but if you, like me, are in that center section, then this one is for you lol. (If anyone cares, I'm working off the Kingsbury translation of the book.) I'd really appreciate your feedback! Enjoy!

* * *

**Cyrano**

"I'm sorry."

"I should probably go."

Without waiting for a response, Marley turned and walked blindly down the hall away from Ryder's locker. What was she supposed to do? She'd meant to just give Ryder his Valentine's Day card and thank him for helping Jake come up with her gift ideas. She hadn't expected him to _kiss_ her.

She ducked into the girls' room for a moment to compose herself. Ryder had kissed her. _Ryder_ had _kissed her_. How had she gotten herself into this mess?

She rested her books on the corner of the sink and met her own eyes in the mirror, surprised to see that she didn't _look_ any different. She felt different. Blushy. Tingly.

Ashamed.

This was ridiculous. It wasn't like she'd never kissed Ryder before; they'd kissed all the time when they were Danny and Sandy in the school production of _Grease_. And that one time backstage, on opening night.

But that was before she and Jake had officially started dating. That was before Jake had told her he loved her, and she'd said it back. And she'd meant it... right?

_Pull it together, Marley_, she told herself sternly in the mirror. _After school, you can take all the time you want to freak out about this._ With that, she took a deep breath and left the bathroom.

She slipped into Mrs. Swanson's English class and into her seat just seconds before the bell. She felt momentarily relieved that Ryder had been transferred out of this class after being diagnosed with dyslexia. Unfortunately, she wasn't lucky enough to be able to avoid Jake as well, and the first thing she did was make eye contact with her boyfriend across the room. '_Hey,'_ Jake mouthed, shooting her a wink. '_I love you.'_

She mustered a grin for him—at least, she thought she did—and turned around to face the blackboard as Mrs. Swanson began taking attendance. So much for waiting until after school to freak out. _I can't even look at him. What if he can somehow tell I've been kissing Ryder?_

Mrs. Swanson put away her attendance sheet and picked up a well-worn novel, holding it up to the class. "I hope you all did what I asked over the weekend and read the first three acts of _Cyrano de Bergerac_." she said.

Marley had; in fact, she'd already read it several times. It was one of her favorite books, and under normal circumstances she'd be excited to talk about it... but how was she supposed to concentrate on the book when she was currently dealing with her own real-life Cyrano situation?

"Who can give me a brief summary of the first three acts?" said Mrs. Swanson.

When nobody volunteered, she called on someone, a girl in a Cheerios uniform whose name Marley didn't know. She was a fine looking girl, but it was hard to look past the huge neck brace she wore. "So, there's these two guys, Cyrano and Christian." the Cheerio said. "And they both love the same girl, Roxane. But Cyrano finds out Roxane loves Christian, so he puts his own feelings aside and helps Christian win her."

The teacher nodded. "Very good. How does Cyrano help Christian? Kitty?"

From her seat next to Marley's, Kitty sighed with annoyance, popping her gum loudly. "He writes her all these romantic love letters, since Christian's too dumb to think of anything to say to her himself."

Marley fidgeted in her seat. It was hard not to see the parallel between Ryder and Cyrano... she'd said it to him herself: 'Jake is awesome and everything, but he's not capable of that. Any of it. I know it was you, whispering in his ear like Cyrano.' God, no wonder he'd kissed her. It had probably sounded like some kind of open invitation. Why hadn't she just kept her mouth shut, pretended they'd fooled her? It's not like it was a big deal. So Ryder remembered her favorite song and her favorite flowers. So what? It's not like the only reason she liked Jake was that he gave her gifts.

"Why do you think Cyrano would want to help Christian?" Mrs. Swanson continued. Marley was barely listening as neck brace Cheerio raised her hand.

"He wanted her to feel loved by the guy who loved her." said the Cheerio, sighing at the romance of it all.

Kitty snorted. "More like, he wanted to hit that but he knew she'd never look at him twice because of his giant honker." she said. "So he was like, it's not like I can ever have her. Might as well help the hot guy get some."

"That's an interesting point, Kitty." Mrs. Swanson said, obviously used to having her students reduce classic literature into slang and crude paraphrasing. "On page 110, Cyrano says 'But still I feel my heart has something gained, since on those lips where Roxane now is caught, it is the words I spoke just now she kisses.' Cyrano feels that even though Christian is the one kissing her, Cyrano has gained something from it: the knowledge that his words, his actions, have made her feel this way."

"Like I said." Kitty put in. "It's the closest he's ever gonna get to having her for himself."

Marley caught herself toying with the heart pendant she wore around her neck, realized that Ryder had probably picked that out too, and felt a little stab of guilt. How did Ryder feel when he saw her wearing his pendant around school? Was he happy that she was enjoying the necklace he'd chosen? Or was it painful, because he knew she was wearing it for Jake? This morning, she'd figured it was the first one, but in view of the way he'd kissed her...

It was painful for him, wasn't it? If she was in his position, could she have sung backup while her best friend serenaded the guy she loved, and then took credit for the idea to do it in the first place? God, she would be miserable. How was it even possible that he was so nice?

But he really wasn't nice, was he? If he was so noble about letting her and Jake be happy together, he wouldn't have kissed her in the hall like that. Kissing your friend's girlfriend was definitely not cool at all, in any circumstance, but...

He did apologize. And he'd seemed just as stricken by it as she'd been. Clearly he hadn't _meant_ to kiss her. It had just been one of those things, those things that just happen before you get a chance to think. A spontaneous impulse or whatever. And...

She hadn't stopped him. Didn't that make it partly her fault? Maybe mostly her fault, since he, at least, had the excuse of having feelings for her. What was her excuse? That he was a good kisser? Well that wasn't slutty at all...

"...Marley?"

Marley's head shot up as she registered that the teacher was calling on her. "Y-yes? Sorry, I didn't hear the question." she stammered.

Mrs. Swanson raised one eyebrow. "I said, what did you think about the kiss?"

"It was really good." Marley blurted without thinking. She could feel the blood rushing into her cheeks. What had possessed her to say that? She was clearly asking about the kiss between Christian and Roxane, not the one between her and Ryder!

It obviously wasn't the answer Mrs. Swanson was expecting, and she looked surprised and pleased at having a new perspective brought to the material. "What makes you say that, Marley?"

Marley swallowed hard. "Well... I don't see why everyone's so down on Christian all the time. I mean, just because he wasn't as good at putting his feelings into words doesn't mean he loves her any less!"

The Cheerio with the neck brace looked at her disapprovingly. "It's pretty shallow to choose the guy with the good looks over the guy with the good mind." she said.

Marley bristled. "At least Christian had the guts to tell Roxane how he felt about her! He- he wanted to make her happy and he did what he had to do. So what if he got help? Some people are just better at thinking of gift ideas—or letter ideas—or whatever. It doesn't necessarily mean they're the better man!"

The Cheerio shook her head as best she could in the constraining neck brace. "If Cyrano's not the better man, why would he step aside so selflessly?"

"Maybe because he knew that Christian loved her more!" Marley answered.

"Oh, please." scoffed the Cheerio. "Once Roxane finds out who really wrote the letters, she'll realize that Cyrano's the one she loved the whole time. It's obvious they end up together in the end."

"Ha!" Marley shot back, rising from her seat. "He never tells her and then when she finally finds out, he dies right after!"

"What?!" shrieked the Cheerio.

"Spoiler alert." Kitty snickered.

Mrs. Swanson was frowning at her. "Um, yes, thank you Marley. I'm glad to see that my students are so passionate about the reading. But let's try and keep the discussion about the first half of the book for now, all right?"

Marley suddenly realized that she was standing, and that the whole class was staring at her. She could feel Jake watching her from the back corner, concern warring with amusement in his dark eyes. "Sorry," she croaked, her cheeks flaming again. "I just... I mean... Can I go get a drink of water?" At the teacher's nod, she fled the room, making a beeline for the safety of the girls' room.


	2. I Tremble, I Weep

A/N: Thank you so much to those of you who decided to follow/favorite this story, and thank you a million times to Air-Fire-Water-Earth-Spirit, ChuckNutz, Angelina Johnson, and Guest for your feedback. I appreciate it more than I can say.

Enjoy chapter 2!

* * *

In the safety of the ladies' room, Marley took a few deep breaths and splashed her face with water, trying to calm herself down. She felt acutely aware that she'd embarrassed herself in there, but she hadn't been able to help it.

The bathroom door banged open and Kitty entered. "You're acting like a total freak and everybody noticed." she said without preamble.

Marley sighed and perched herself on the radiator, trying to prepare herself for the blunt barbs that Kitty apparently thought passed for friendship. "Great, Kitty. Thanks." she said tiredly. "What are you doing here?"

Kitty shrugged, leaning into the mirror and adjusting her lip gloss. "I told Mrs. Swanson that you were bulimic and I wanted to make sure you weren't barfing."

Marley's jaw dropped in shock and horror. "What?! Kitty!"

"Relax, Honey Boo Boo. I was just joking." Kitty said with a roll of her eyes, but something in her expression hinted that it was probably true after all. "You just seemed like you needed to talk, that's all. I mean, you come into class looking all glassy-eyed and concussed, and then you flip out because nobody likes your favorite character from the homework assignment? That's spazzy, even for you."

Part of Marley wanted to wait until she could talk to someone else about this—someone she trusted more, like Unique or her mom—but the secret was weighing on her so heavily that she had to let it out or burst. "If I tell you something, will you swear not to tell anybody?" she asked, deadly serious.

"Not even Jake?" Kitty asked, raising one perfectly-sculpted eyebrow.

"Especially not Jake!" Marley said quickly.

"Ohmigod, you totally made out with Ryder!" Kitty crowed, causing Marley's eyes to go wide. "Ha! I knew it!"

"What?! No! No." Marley protested. "It- We didn't 'make out'... but, he did kiss me. Once. In the hallway before class."

"Whatever. So was it good, or did his donkey teeth like totally bite into your lip?"

"No, it was good." Marley said distractedly, too anxious to even defend Ryder on the point of his teeth, which were perfectly nice... not that she ever took notice of Ryder's mouth. "But how did you guess?"

Kitty sighed. "Sweetie, you're about as transparent as a piece of saran wrap. Going on about how just because a guy isn't a good gift-giver doesn't mean he's the wrong guy? Which, by the way, totally untrue? It was completely obvious that you were talking about Puckerman's Valentine's Day gifts, which NOBODY thinks he thought of himself. I mean, you knew right away that he had a lanky, Bieber-haired cupid hovering over his shoulder, didn't you?"

"Yes." Marley admitted, worrying her bottom lip.

"I mean, Jake's hot, and I guess he's a nice guy or whatever, but he's not exactly the romantic type."

"That's not true." Marley defended. "He sang to me in the choir room in front of everybody to tell me that he loved me!"

"Oh, yeah..." Kitty remembered. "Ryder told him to do that."

"Are you serious?" Marley was shaken. ___Ryder _had planned that too?

"As a heart attack." Kitty said solemnly. "Blaine heard them talking about it in the locker room, and he told Tina, who told me."

Just because Ryder was involved didn't mean that Jake's confession of love was untrue, Marley reasoned with herself. But it was still kind of a rude awakening. She thought maybe she was starting to understand how Roxane felt when she heard Cyrano read 'Christian's' letter aloud. "Why would Ryder _do _something like this?" she moaned.

"Duh." Kitty answered. "He's totally in love with you and he didn't want you to have a crappy Valentine's Day when you realized you were stuck with Puckerman and whatever stupid gift he was going to get you. Probably sexy underwear or something horrible like that." She pointed a finger at Marley, who was coming perilously close to tears. "Stop doing that. That Disney princess lip-quivering thing. Stop. It's not going to make Ryder go away."

"You're the one who told me he wasn't into me in the first place." Marley said, suddenly feeling the need to take things out on someone else for a change.

"Um, yeah," Kitty said. "That's cause I wanted you to think ___no one _liked you, not that ___Puckerman _was your best option. Kinda shot myself in the foot there."

Marley chose to ignore that as a more horrifying thought occurred to her. "So... it was that obvious what I was thinking about? In English class?"

"Oh, yeah. Big time. The cat's out of the bag, sister." Kitty confirmed.

"Do you... do you think Jake realized?"

"I don't know..." Kitty said with a frown. "Maybe not. I mean, the Puckermans aren't exactly famous for thinking with their upstairs brains, you know?"

Marley sighed, burying her face in her hands. "What should I do, Kitty?"

"Juggle them both until it all blows up in your face." the other girl responded. At Marley's look of reprehension, she snorted. "Seriously. You asked for ___my _advice?"

* * *

After school, Marley nudged a fallen tater tot with the toe of her sneaker as she waited for her mother in the empty cafeteria. There was a glee rehearsal today, but she'd gone to Mr. Schuester after seventh period and lied that she was feeling too under-the-weather to sing. She'd felt sort of bad about using the mopey, apathetic mood he'd been in since Miss Pillsbury had left him at the altar to her advantage, but Marley wasn't sure she was up to facing Ryder right now, or Jake, or anyone, really—it had been almost two hours since Kitty had promised not to tell anyone about the kiss, so it was pretty much a sure thing that all the glee kids knew about it by now.

One of the doors opened, and Marley froze as Jake came into the cafeteria, spotting her and nodding to himself, as if he'd known she'd be here. Hands deep in his pockets, he sat down in the chair beside hers. "Hey."

"Hey." Marley answered softly.

Jake stared at his outstretched legs for a long moment before turning to her. "So... I'm guessing there's no way that stuff you said in English class wasn't about Valentine's Day, huh?"

Marley took a second to untangle the double negative, and then another second to be embarrassed that he'd seen through her freak out so easily. "Maybe a little bit." she admitted. "Ryder didn't tell me." she added. "I guessed."

"I was going to tell you, I swear." Jake said earnestly. "I didn't mean to lie or anything. I just got nervous. All this monogamy, romance stuff is kind of new to me. I'm into it, though. I'm trying."

"I know." Marley said, having trouble speaking around the lump in her throat. "I knew those things weren't your ideas, but I still thought it was really sweet. I can see how hard you try, Jake, I love how hard you try. I love that about you."

For some reason, this seemed to make Jake feel worse instead of better, and he sighed in frustration, slapping one of his hands on the table. "The problem is that no matter how hard I work to deserve you, to be the guy you want me to be, it doesn't change the fact that ___he_ already ___is _that guy."

"Jake-"

"I mean, while I was hanging out with Kitty and sniffing around the stupid school musical because I was jealous, he was the one who noticed there was something wrong with you. He was the one who saw what you were doing to yourself and tried to make you feel better. I saw the way he kissed you backstage." he sounded angry, but she sensed it was mostly at himself. "I'm never gonna be the guy who—"

"Ryder kissed me." Marley blurted. Her guilty conscience wouldn't let her listen to another word of Jake's self-deprecating speech when he wasn't the one who'd done anything wrong. "Today, I mean. Before seventh period. I didn't kiss him back, but... I didn't stop him either." She twisted her hands together, afraid to look him in the eye. "I'm so sorry."

His hand clenched into a fist on the table, but he didn't fly off the handle. "I kind of snaked him in the beginning when it came to you." he said evenly. "I knew he had some doctor thing to go to the weekend you were supposed to have your first date with him, and I took advantage of that to go with you instead. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he'd go behind my back to give me a taste of my own medicine."

"It wasn't like that." Marley said automatically. "I don't think he meant to; it just happened. And he apologized—"

"You're... defending him." Jake said slowly.

"Not exactly..." she sighed. "It's just... you knew he had feelings for me. How could you let him help you with all that Valentine stuff, knowing how painful it must have been for him?"

"He acted like he was cool with it." Jake defended. "Besides, I didn't ask him, he offered."

"I just hate that I hurt him. We both did." Marley said.

"And that's why you let him kiss you?" Jake asked. "Because you feel sorry for him?"

"No!" Marley protested, before finally admitting, "...I don't know ___what_ I feel for him."

"Well..." Jake's jaw had a determined set to it, but Marley could see in his eyes that he was just as hurt as Ryder had been. "I guess that's our problem, then."

Marley watched him stand, an icy shiver running through her. "Jake, wait. Don't go."

He shook his head. "Look, Marley. I'm upset, and yeah, I'm kinda pissed, but I get it, okay? I just need some space, and it kind of seems like you do too."

"Are... are you breaking up with me?" she asked in a small voice.

He shoved his hands back in his pockets. "Well... yeah. I guess I am." He watched as she blinked and a tear slid down her face. "Listen. I care about you, you know that. But I don't want you unless you're sure I'm the one that you want."

"Jake..." her voice broke, but he didn't turn back to her, and she buried her face in her hands and cried.


	3. Boys Will Be Boys

A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you to Angelina Johnson, Gleeotch13, ChuckNutz, HG and PJO 4ever, and lily for your reviews on chapter 2. I appreciate your taking the time to leave feedback! And thanks to everyone who's been favoriting/following. Hope you are all enjoying it!

This is a short one but I'll get the next one up soon, I promise! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think!

* * *

The next day at glee rehearsal, things seemed normal on the surface, but everyone could feel the fractures amongst the group. Marley sat with Unique, trying to avoid eye contact with Ryder, who sat on the other side of the risers. Jake hadn't shown up yet.

"I heard about you and Puckerman." Kitty said into her ear. She was leaning forward from the row behind, but her voice wasn't soft enough to prevent anyone from hearing her. "I just wanted you to know that, since we're friends now, I plan to follow girl code and wait the full two week mourning period before I go after him."

Unique glared at her and wrapped a supportive arm around Marley's shoulders.

Jake walked into the choir room in time to catch the end of Kitty's statement. "You know I hate Taylor Swift, but she's got a song that perfectly describes when you and I will be getting back together, Kitty." he said dryly, dropping into a seat in the back row.

Unfazed, she just flashed him a feline grin. "It's cute that you think that."

As Marley listened to them banter, she was surprised by how not-upset she was. Jake was special to her, and the breakup was still raw, but it didn't feel like the end of the world. It didn't feel like they couldn't still talk or be friends. The way Jake caught her eye and mustered a little half-smile made her think he felt the same way.

Ryder, on the other hand, was obviously miserable. His normal friendly grin was completely absent throughout the entire class, and she spent enough time sneaking glances at him to know that he was strenuously avoiding looking at her.

She should talk to him, right?

Marley didn't know exactly what she wanted to say to Ryder, but she wanted to clear the air between them. Maybe he was afraid she was mad at him for kissing her. Maybe he was mad at her for running away when he did, rather than just talking it out like a sane, normal person. Either way, she missed him, which was ridiculous, since they'd only been not-talking for one day.

When glee ended, she'd resolved to wait outside the door and corner him when he came into the hallway. But as Ryder made to leave, she saw Jake grab him by the elbow and pull him back. Worry bubbled up inside her, and she almost decided to go back into the choir room to prevent whatever sort of horrible macho showdown was about to go down, but Unique steered her away from the door. "You really think you being in there is going to make things better, honey?"

Marley sighed, biting her lip. "I don't know. What if they're fighting?"

Unique shrugged. "Boys will be boys." she said. "Well... you know... present company excluded."

Marley rolled her eyes but couldn't stifle a grin.

"So..." Unique's eyes were bright, an expression Marley recognized as her dishing-good-gossip look. "You're going to pick Ryder, right? I heard he kissed you after Mr. Schue's wedding... And why exactly didn't I hear that from _you_, by the way?"

Defeated, Marley slumped against the wall. "I'm sorry. I was going to tell you, but my mind was just all over the place at the time, and then the whole breakup with Jake happened, and I just felt really guilty, and I didn't feel like talking about it..."

"I get it." Unique said comfortingly. "It's okay to be confused."

"I mean, Jake was wonderful, and I'm sad that it's over, and I can't help thinking that I should just tell him that and try to get back together." Marley said. "But Ryder... he's never been anything but patient and sweet and when he kissed me I just felt..."

"Felt what?" Unique was hanging on her every word.

"I don't know... good? _Right_? It was like... he couldn't help kissing me and I couldn't help letting him, you know?"

"No." Unique sighed with a smile. "So, I ask again: you're picking Ryder, right?"

"But, Jake..." Marley began.

"Jake Puckerman can take care of himself." Unique said confidently. "I'll admit, I was wrong about him being a _total_ womanizer, and he actually turned out to be a pretty nice guy. But he'll bounce back."

"Hey!" Marley teased. "Are you suggesting I'm easy to forget?"

Unique laughed. "Not a bit. Hey, look—"

The door to the choir room opened and they both ducked into a doorway, out of sight. Jake strode out of the room alone, walking in the other direction. Marley peeked into the hall and waited, frowning when Ryder didn't follow. "Unique? I'd better go check—"

"_Uh huh._" Unique gave her a look that implied that she's knew all about Marley's _reasons_ for wanting to go to Ryder. "All I can say is, I'd better be the first to get details this time, Marley Rose."

Marley nudged her with her shoulder, shaking her hair back with annoyance. "There won't be _details_." she scoffed, before walking towards the choir room.


	4. Roxane's Kiss

A/N: Special thanks to Angelina Johnson for her review last chapter. I'm glad you liked Unique; I wasn't totally sure how to write her either, but I really liked the friendship we saw between her and Marley early in the season, so I wanted to add a touch of that.

Anyone else still reading? All I've got after this chapter is a short epilogue. I think you'll like this one... Read on.

* * *

Marley almost knocked on the door jamb, but didn't, finally gathering the courage to stick her head into the choir room. Ryder was sitting at the piano, facing away from her. "Hey."

He turned around. "Hey..."

Their eyes met for the first time since The Kiss, and Marley suddenly understood what people meant when they talked about getting 'butterflies.' "It, uh, doesn't look like Jake hit you." She honestly wasn't sure what she'd been expecting... a bruise? A bloody nose?

Ryder gave her a reproving look. "We're not complete barbarians when it comes to you, you know." When she simply folded her arms, he shook his head. "Okay, yes. Yes we are."

Marley couldn't help it; she giggled.

"He didn't hit me." Ryder said finally. "I probably would have felt better if he did."

The time for jokes was over, and Marley took a few careful steps toward him. "What? _Why?_"

"I would have deserved it." he said simply, shrugging. His eyes met hers as he said, "I know I already apologized for what I did to you, but that doesn't make it okay."

"Is that why you won't talk to me?" she asked quietly.

He looked a little confused. "Why would you want to talk to me? I'm the reason Jake broke up with you, aren't I? You told him about the kiss."

"I told him about the kiss. I had to." Marley confirmed.

"I get it. And I wasn't not talking to you, I just figured you'd want to avoid me for a while while Jake cooled off, that's all." Ryder said. "If he sees you're serious about him, and only him, he might—"

"What, take me back?" Marley finished. She sat down on the bench next to him and immediately regretted it—the bench was small and now they were much too close together. But she couldn't change seats without seeming embarrassed now, so she soldiered on. "Yes, I told him about the kiss. But that wasn't why he broke up with me."

"Why, then?" Ryder challenged, clearly not believing her.

She lifted her head to look at him, letting her eyes do all the talking, exposing confusion, tenderness, vulnerability.

He reached out a hand to touch her, then seemed to get control of himself, pulling it back. "Marley, you have to say something. I... I can't."

She swallowed hard. "He... he broke up with me because... because I couldn't tell him that I _don't_ have any feelings. For you." she said haltingly. She looked up to find him staring at her, just staring, and it made her nervous enough to start talking again. "And it's not about the gifts, either." she continued, playing with the necklace she was still wearing. "Stuff doesn't matter to me, and if Jake had gotten me something horrible, or nothing at all, that would have been okay. But it's about the feelings behind it all, and that was all you, and I still don't really understand how you did it or why but I can't stop thinking about it." She was babbling now. "I just have to know if you're really real—if this is really as perfect as it seems, I mean; I know you're really real—and I just... It's your turn to say something now. Please."

"You weren't supposed to find out, about Valentine's Day." he said softly. "Jake just wanted it to be special for you, Marley. And... I did too."

Marley looked down at her feet. "'Ah, for your joy I'd gladly give my own, even if you should never know...'" she quoted under her breath.

"What?" He was thrown once again by the _Cyrano_ reference. And because she had to know, had to be sure, she lifted her hand to his face and mirrored his movements from yesterday, bringing her lips to his.

Previously, whenever he had kissed her, it had either been a stage kiss, or she had been too surprised to kiss back. For the first time, she was kissing him, and when she felt him start to respond it was like something was clicking into place, something she'd been missing without realizing. The kiss was tentative, unhurried, a slow burn. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered if her heart was pounding loud enough for him to hear. After what seemed like forever, she pulled back slightly, resting her forehead against his.

"Wow..." he murmured, but he kept his eyes closed.

She knew he was probably afraid of what would happen next, that if he opened his eyes he would see that she thought it had been a mistake, that she would regret it, that she wanted Jake after all. A rush of tenderness poured through her, and she wound her arms around his ribs, leaning into him for a hug. "I don't want someone to drop a log on you before I figure out how I feel about you." she confessed, her voice a little more wobbly than she would have liked.

His arm found its way around her shoulders. "Okay, maybe my head is still spinning, but I swear you just told me someone was going to drop a log on me, and I don't know how to react to that."

She laughed into his chest. "It's from a book." she explained. "A really romantic book."

"I don't read that well." Ryder reminded her.

"You don't have to." Marley answered. Ryder didn't need to read _Cyrano_, he already understood the themes better than anyone. "Besides, I like this ending better anyway."

"Okay..." Ryder furrowed his brow. "Does that mean I should kiss you again?"

She smiled, and he complied, and she was left wondering why she'd ever thought the piano bench was too small of the two of them... suddenly it seemed like she couldn't get close enough. She was practically in his lap by the time they came up for air.

"So..." he breathed. "Does this mean...?"

"Well..." Marley took a deep breath of her own. "I mean, I don't want to flaunt it in front of Jake, or anything, but... yes."

Ryder's face fell at the mention of Jake. "Crap. Jake." he sighed. "You know, after glee he actually _apologized_? To _me_?"

"Really?" Marley was surprised.

"He said that he knew how I felt about you and he shouldn't have taken advantage of that to try to impress you." Ryder shrugged. "So I apologized for kissing you. It was wrong of me, and I don't want to be that kind of guy. Plus, I should have known I wouldn't be able to handle the whole gift thing, and just let him get you... well, never mind. As a decent person, I would have had to give him at least a little advice, for his sake and yours."

Marley's eyes widened in gleeful curiosity. "What was he going to get me?"

Ryder just shook his head. "You don't want to know. Trust me_._"

Marley pouted, but really she was glad that Ryder was the kind of person who wouldn't indulge in petty gossip like that. From the beginning, she had always felt like she could trust Ryder... something that had taken a long time in coming with Jake. "I do." she murmured, kissing his cheek.

"You know we'll have to tell Jake eventually." Ryder warned. He seemed like he was still having trouble believing his luck, that Marley truly wanted _him_.

"I think," Marley said slowly, remembering what Jake had told her before they broke up, "That _eventually_, he'll be okay with it."


	5. Epilogue

A/N: Thank you so much to ChuckNutz for reviewing last chapter! I completely agree with you, Jake is excellent and I didn't want to write him out of character by vilifying him. I hope I succeeded.

Hey there, anyone out there who's still reading this... it's your last chance to review this story. I'd so appreciate your thoughts and opinions! Enjoy.

* * *

It had been a week since she'd started dating Ryder, and just thinking of him brought a bit of a glow to Marley's face. Being with him was so easy; he was sweet, he was thoughtful, her mom loved him. Not to mention that when he kissed her, she saw stars.

It had been rough for a while, trying to find a way to be happy with Ryder without hurting Jake. But while Jake still behaved coolly toward the two of them, she knew he was trying to be civil and keep his temper under control, and she was proud of him for that. He'd even smiled at her as she came into English class today.

"...your opinion, Marley?"

Marley looked up and blushed as she realized she'd been thinking about Ryder and Jake instead of listening in class..._ again._

"Yes." Kitty spoke up, with a smug look at Marley's notebook, where Marley had been idly doodling Ryder's name in the margins. "I'm sure we're all very interested to know if you're still of the frankly deluded opinion that Christian is the hero of the book." She finished with a fake yawn, to let the teacher know she wasn't _really_ engaged in the class.

Marley shot her a grateful look for supplying her with the question. "Well..." she began slowly. "I think they're both heroes."

"Cop-out." coughed the Cheerio with the neck brace.

"What Cyrano did to help Christian was noble." Marley said fairly. "But Christian did the same thing. He tried to get Cyrano to confess that it was he who wrote the letters. He wanted to give Roxane a chance to decide for herself, knowing all the facts, even though he didn't think she would choose him. That's just as selfless as what Cyrano did, I think. He just died before it could work out."

"Very true." said Mrs. Swanson.

"And when Cyrano decides not to tell her that he wrote the letters, because he doesn't want to ruin Roxane's memories of Christian, I feel like that was a sign of true friendship." Marley finished. "It's just a shame they couldn't have had more faith in Roxane from the beginning. They both felt like they had to hide something from her, and they should have given her more credit, that she would make the right choice for the right reasons."

"I think you have some very good insights into these characters, Marley." Mrs. Swanson praised.

Out of the corner of her eye, Marley saw Kitty making gagging motions.

"...Which should help you with this weekend's assignment—a five-page paper on the themes of 'romance' and 'deception' in _Cyrano de Bergerac._"

The class groaned, but neither the weekend homework nor Kitty's theatrics could wipe the contented smile from Marley's face.


End file.
